2013September 30-January 14

Robert De Vincenzi ’76, an economics and business administration major, lost his class ring on a 1977 trip with buddies to the Bahamas. Thirty-five years later, after losing his Staten Island home to Hurricane Sandy, Robbie got the surprise of his life: A couple from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, had found his ring on the beach while honeymooning in the Bahamas. They had the ring cleaned, found Robert’s name inscribed on the inside, and called Wagner’s Alumni Office. Staffer Rebecca Colucci tracked Robert down (his phone was out of order after Sandy) and reunited him with his ring on 12/12/12 (Dec. 12, 2012). There were multiple print and broadcast stories produced about the incredible ray of hope that pierced the storm clouds in the life of alumnus Robert De Vincenzi — from The Southeast Missourian and KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau, to the Advance and a couple of New York City local TV news affiliates, to Fox News and the Daily Mail of London.

New York Times sports writer Jonathan Zeller wrote this inspiring story about how our football team, led by Walt Hameline, had prepared for a big game on Nov. 3 in Albany in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy — even while those athletes were pitching in on Staten Island relief efforts.

The front page of the Sunday Advance was devoted to a story package about the many helping hands volunteering for relief work on Staten Island — including Wagner Cares, a program spearheaded by President Guarasci and SGA President Greg Balaes.

Fox News local affiliate WNYW-TV aired a story about the work Wagner College physician assistant students were doing in a Staten Island shelter for victims of Hurricane Sandy. (Please excuse the quality of the video; it was shot with a home video camera as the story aired on a television set.)

Joshua Spivak, senior fellow at Wagner College’s Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform, wrote on opinion essay for The Atlantic magazine following the first presidential debate, proffering an interesting proposal: “Everyone hates the moderators — so let’s just get rid of them.”

An op-ed essay by the Carey Institute’s Joshua Spivak on “That Pesky Electoral College,” published just a few days before the 2012 presidential election, ran in several papers: the Los Angeles Times, the Savannah Morning News, the Tallahassee Democrat and the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald.

Joshua Spivak provided his special brand of historical perspective for this essay on the closely divided electorate, “The ’80s Want Their Politics Back – the 1880s,” published in the New York Times’ “Campaign Stops” blog.

The death of Senator Daniel Inouye, president pro tem of the U.S. Senate, prompted Joshua Spivak’s essay, “Why the U.S. Must Change its Presidential Succession Rules.” (The president pro tem of the Senate is third in line for the succession, after the speaker of the house and the vice president.)

The Advance Weekly Entertainment tab featured the renovated Main Stage auditorium in Main Hall on its cover, and Wagner College Theatre student (and Advance newsroom intern) Eric Petillo wrote a story about the Main Hall restoration project that had just concluded.

Advance report Deborah Young called upon Wagner College economics professor Mary Rose Leacy for expert perspective in a story on the potential impact of the “fiscal cliff” facing the federal government.

The Pottstown, Pa. Mercury, hometown newspaper of Wagner College graduate student and fifth-season football player Steve Ciocci, profiled his record of volunteerism and leadership. “Even though Ciocci was named to the All-NEC first team as an offensive lineman and played in last month’s third annual FCS Senior Scout Bowl in Myrtle Beach, S.C., his greatest honor — on or off the football field — was being selected to the Allstate American Football Coaches Association’s Good Works Team and working with youngsters over the past week as part of the 79th annual Sugar Bowl festivities,” wrote reporter Don Seeley.

Advance reporter Tracy Porpora wrote about the progress achieved in enhancing traffic safety on Grymes Hill after the tragic death of Wagner College nursing student R.J. Tillman last year in a hit-and-run incident on Howard Avenue. The progress has been due mostly to the efforts of a group spearheaded by Wagner Magazine editor Laura Barlament.